Back in 2002, I was a member of the Playwrights’ Lab at Women’s Project, the nation’s oldest and largest theatre company devoted to producing plays by women. Elysa Marden was a member of their directors’ forum. We worked together on a ten-minute musical, and we found that we really enjoyed the collaboration.

Right around that time, Women’s Project offered a grant to a playwright and director to create a show together. Elysa and I decided to apply. When we started talking about what our proposal would be, we realized that we shared a love of comic books. It was just after 9/11, and we all really needed a superhero.

Together, we came up with CYCLONE, a gorgeous, gypsy superheroine who battles crime and roller coaster accidents in 1920’s Coney Island. But we also wanted to tell the story of Cyclone’s creator – Sally Kaplan - a woman comic book artist who prefers her drawings to real life, until current events remind her that there are no superheroes. Sally asks herself what many of us were asking: what can an artist do in response to tragedy? Sally answers that question for herself and succeeds in becoming the hero of her own story.

Our concept struck a chord, and we won the grant. Then composer Rima Fand, who writes some of the sexiest, most original and compelling music you’ll ever hear in a theater, joined the team.

That was the beginning of CYCLONE and the Pig-Faced Lady. Since then, CYCLONE has had multiple concert readings, including a presentation as part of the Developmental Reading Series at the York Theatre Company, several readings at the Julia Miles Theatre through Women’s Project, and readings at Algonquin Theater Company and City Lights Studios.

The current NYMF production of CYCLONE, presented by New Perspectives Theatre Company, marks its World Premiere as a fully staged and choreographed show. In addition to a wonderful cast, musical director and creative team, we’ve added a unique element: projections of comic book panels to show Sally’s process as she creates CYCLONE’s world. These panels are drawn by Adriana Melo, an amazing Brazilian comic book artist who provides the pencils for Ms. Marvel, Witchblade, Birds of Prey and many other popular Marvel, DC and Top Cow imprints.

We’re very proud of the road CYCLONE has taken and of the current NYMF production. In a sea of movie adaptations and revivals, CYCLONE is a unique theatrical experience. We have no idea what CYCLONE’s future will hold – it could be a large-scale production or even her own graphic novel - but we do know that this is just the beginning.

- Dana Leslie Goldstein (book & lyrics, CYCLONE and the Pig-Faced Lady)